Growth
by tubbataha
Summary: Tragedies are often the making or breaking of a person, which path will naruto take?


Growth

This story is by my friend Alex's but he is hopeless with technology or so he claims so to see that this story is actually posted, I'm putting it up here for him. Tubs

Disclaimer: Neither I nor Alex own Naruto.

The wreckage was everywhere. Hewn stones, broken building and smoke was everywhere. It was quiet, he could here the wind whistling through the ruin that used to be his home.

"What the hell happened" he screamed. He then ran into the remains of the village, desperately searching for any of his friends. Everywhere he looked showed signs of battle and death there were pools of blood everywhere but, 'were are the bodies he thought to himself'. He ran around the wreckage desperately trying to find somebody. 'This has got to be dream' he thought frantically. He started calling his friends names, somebody had to be here.

Then out of the corner of his eye he saw an arm protruding from a massive amount of rubble. He ran over to the arm. He easily moved the rubble from around the arm. Demon infused chakra helping him easily shift the heavy rubble around the arm. Once the rubble was removed he saw who was underneath.

"Fuzzy brows" he said quietly. He lifted Lee out of the rubble and set him down on away from the rubble. "Fuzzy brows" he called. "Fuzzy brows" he called again louder and more desperately. Rock Lee slowly opened his eyes "Naruto-kun" he whispered.

"Fuzzy brows, what happened here" Naruto said.

"An attack, they were everywhere my youthful power was not enough" he smiled weakly. "I was knocked out before I could open my gates" Lee looked around "It looks like we made a mess with our youthful defense" Lee's head lolled back unconscious.

"Fuzzy brows!" Naruto checked his breathing and let out a sigh of relief. He lay down Lee gently and stood up. 'Damn were was everyone else' he thought in frustration. He then desperately began searching the rest of the wrecked village for any of his friends.

Jiraiya watched Naruto run into the village shouting for his friends. His eyes switched back to the village. What had happened to his home 'Damn it all to hell' he thought as he ran towards the hokage building 'be alive Tsunade' he thought to himself. As he ran towards his destination he went over the people who could have done this in his mind trying to find how they did it but nothing added up. Who could have done this who?

Naruto ran around the remains of Konoha desperately trying to find more of his teammates, his friends. He had just come back from his training with Jiraiya and he hadn't expected to come back and find his home in ruins. He searched the piles of rubble and semi destroyed buildings trying to find someone anyone. As he headed towards the five stone heads of the Hokages, he saw something that caught his eye. A white tuft of fur that was underneath a collapsed segment of house. Naruto ran towards it. 'No' he thought to himself 'surely it couldn't be' he approached the collapsed house. Nine-tails chakra pouring out of him, the emotional strain this was causing was bringing him dangerously close to loosing control. He easily moved the rubble with the demon chakra's help. Under the rubble he found Kiba on all fours with Hinata underneath him. He had obliviously thrown himself on top of Hinata to stop her being crushed by the falling building. Kiba looked sideways at Naruto "Finally" he said his voice cracking as he collapsed side way's.

"Kiba" Naruto screamed as Kiba hit the ground. Naruto moved over to him, he wasn't breathing. "Kiba, kiba" Naruto sobbed as he started shaking Kiba softly. "You can't die, you can't.." Naruto put his head on Kiba's chest and started to cry. Kiba was dead, dead. Through his sobs he heard a soft cough. He looked up to see Hinata opening her eyes. "Hinata" Naurto said gently he moved over to her.

"Naruto-kun" Hinata said weakly. Naurto moved her long hair of her face. "Yes" he replied, "I'm here". Hinata looked into Naruto's currently red eyes. "Kiba?" She asked. When tears came to Naruto's eyes. Hinata shut hers "Oh kiba" she said and started crying. Naruto held the crying Hinata in his arms until she stopped. She only stopped because she had past out. Naruto gently picked her up and took her to were he had left Lee. After making sure they were both okay he returned to Kiba's body. He lifted up the segment were the white tuft protruded from and found Akamaru's crushed body, he had been bigger then when he had last seen him. He picked up the body and moved over to Kiba and placed Akamaru's body next to Kibas. The two friends side by side even in death. He felt tears in his eyes again. Could he keep searching? He might find more of his friends dead. He looked at Kiba and Akamaru, they had died defending the village and Hinata. Surely he could find the courage to keep searching. He nodded to himself, yes he could he would not let Kiba's courage go to waste. He turned and continued to search the wreckage of his village. But the destruction around him was nothing compared to the damage his heart had taken.

After about twenty minutes of searching he found several packets of crisps under a mound of earth. Surely not Naruto thought to himself. He ripped apart the mound using the nine-tailed chakra. When Naruto saw what was under the pile of earth, and promptly threw up. He looked back to the headless body of Chouji, laying in the dirt. How did he know it was Chouji well his head was only a couple of feet away so it was a pretty good guess. "Oh, god" he said aloud. He threw up again and then he steeled himself and pulled Chouji's body from the dirt. He couldn't bring himself to pick up Chouji's head. So he pulled the body to were the head was. 'Not Chouji as well' he thought to himself. What the hell is going on here. He thought tears coming to his eyes. Who had destroyed his village and caused the death of two of his friends? Who? Naruto felt anger bubble inside him as he stared at Chouji's body. Who had caused this? "WHO?" he screamed at the sky, tears streaming down his face and red chakra flickering around his body like a giant red flower. With a final look at Chouji he continued his search dreading with all his heart what he might find. He came to the library building.

Naurto looked at the destroyed building, even the library he thought. As he walked past the library his foot kicked something metallic. He looked down it was a hidden-leaf shinobi head band. He picked it up. There could be survivors in the library he thought to himself. That was were many secrets were kept so it was a good bet . He started shifting through the library when he saw a blacked gloved hand. Who could this be he thought to himself. Did he know anyone who wore black gloves? As he dug deeper he found he top of a head with...pink hair. 'Oh go, No!' Naurto thought as he dug desperately. He stopped and stared down at "Sakura, no not you. Anyone but yo.." He voice faded and couldn't finish, he stared down at Sakura's face. He quickly dug out the rest of her body. He picked her up and held her close to him. He rocked quietly repeating quietly to himself. "Sakura, Sakura-chan not you please not you". He looked at her, she looked so peaceful like she was sleeping. Only the blood covering her front jolted his mind back to realty. Naruto kept expecting her to get up and hit him for holding her in such an embarrassing way.

"Sakura-chan, sak...u..r.a" He felt something deep within him snap. "SAKURA" he screamed at the sky holding her close, tears rolling down his face. Naruto wept pitifully and unashamedly. He didn't know for how long he wept and he didn't care. After what seemed like an eternity of having blackness wash over him, he found himself staring at a familiar gate. Naurto stared at the demon fox through the bars of it's cell.

"_Feeling despair" _it grinned at Naruto through the bars "_Release me and we can make everyone pay. Everyone will feel your pain and it will feel better. You can have revenge on the world for what they did to you"_. Naurto reached towards the seal on the prison door. The grin on the demon fox widening as Naruto's hand touched the seal. Then the grin faded as Nartuo took his hand of the seal. _"What?" exclaimed_ the demon.

"My name is Naurto Uzumaki" said Naruto quietly. "And I will not give up hope, I will not give up on my way of the ninja" He stared up at the beast "I will not become a monster, I will not become what I have been fighting since I was born" His voice became louder "They died for there way of there ninja, for there village and for there friends. Their dead, but I will not let there deaths be meaningless. I will not disgrace myself or them.". He shouted defiantly at the demon fox "I will not become a monster like you, I will not give up on life. I will prove to everyone that I am worth looking at. I will protect them till the very end. I will protect them, from other ninja, from disaster but most importantly from you! I will not become a monster, when my friends believed with all their hearts that I am not. For them I will not give up hope. I will find everyone and I will save them. I will defend my friends...till the very end" Naruto turned from the demon-fox and heard a sound that chilled him to the bones. The sound of demon-fox chuckling knowingly. He would remember that sound echoing in his head until his last. He gave himself a small half-smile he would remember this whole day until his last.

Naurto opened his eyes he looked down at Sakura the tears gone but not the pain. He lay her down and looked around for something. He searched around till he found what he wanted. He turned towards Sakura. "Kiba, Chouji and Sakura you died like heroes, like true ninja, like true friends" He put the shovel he picked up over his shoulder. "I can at least bury you all like one." He turned away from Sakura's body and wiping the tears from his eyes and face went to dig.


End file.
